Daria Dzhedzhula, Tatyana Malkova, Daria Malkova, Anastasia Sorokina, Karina Poludkina. These names won’t say much to most sports fans, even the most finicky ones. But in the near future, these girls will increasingly appear in the feeds of news agencies, and not in connection with success in sports arenas. All of them suddenly appeared in the lists of participants of the Pan-Arab Games, which are taking place these days in Algeria.
The judoka Milana Mugu and the gymnast Alexandra Maksimova also entered the candidacy of the Syrian team, but with them there is much more clarity. On the websites of the respective international federations, his nationality has been changed to Syrian. And the relevant organizations allow you to play in the new team immediately after the change of sports citizenship, without leaving the “quarantine”. But about the other five participants questions arise, and many.
Photo source: Milana Mugu social media
FORGERY OF DOCUMENTS OR A CRAZY PLAN?
All athletes appear on the application lists with changed names. For example, swimmer Anastasia Sorokina is designated as Enas Sorkine.
Photo source: RIA Novosti
In addition, the date of birth of two participants was also changed: for example, the badminton player Daria Dzhedzhula suddenly “younger” by four years, and the cyclist Daria Malkova does not match not only the year, but also the day. At the same time, all the girls mentioned are still, according to official sources, on the lists of candidates for the national team or in the closest subsidiary. And the questions to the representatives of the respective national federations have not yet been answered: what is still happening? So, the head coach of the Russian badminton team, Klavdia Mayorova, in an interview with Match TV, said that she did not know how Daria Dzhedzhula could have ended up at the Pan-Arab Games, and was going to clarify the information of the athlete herself in a near future.
Photo source: Russian Badminton Federation
And in the VFLA they even assure that Karina Poludkina during the competition of javelin throwers in Algeria was in Yekaterinburg at the youth championship of the country and therefore did not even have a theoretical opportunity to leave the country.
WHAT ARE THE BENEFITS?
It doesn’t matter how the events unfold, but if Russian athletes really show up at the Pan-Arab Games with modified passport data, then this will not end well for them. Competitions of this level are held under the vigilant control of the IOC, and such a situation can lead to a huge scandal. Moreover, it does not matter at all what caused such a step – collective naivety, on the verge of stupidity, or a conscious attempt to “circumvent the system”, at least somehow enter international competitions under sanctions. Unless in the second case, when the intention is established, the punishment can be many times more severe. Why moderately promising young athletes needed this remains an open question. In any case, the version that they themselves bought plane tickets to Algeria and flew to play in a foreign country does not hold up. So, in the coming days, sports fans in our country can look forward to a very exciting “series”; only the ending is likely to become very deplorable.
